JAMES LURVEY, 

OF GLOUCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, 

A PATRIOT OF THE REVOLUTION. 



xVr a meeting of the Massachusetts Historical 
Society, held in Bost^oii Thursday, November 10, 
1898, Dr. Samuel A. Green said : — 

The followiiiQ- anecdote, told by Dr. William Eustis to Dr. 
Redford Webster, formerlj^ an officer of tlie Historical Society, 
is found in a volume of Collections (second series, IV. 51, 52) 
of this Society, which was published in the year 1816. At 
that time Dr. Eustis liad been a surgeon in the aimy through- 
out the Revolutionary War, and had also been a Member of 
Congress, and Secretary of War under President Madison ; 
and later he was Governor of the Commonwealth. I mention 
these facts in some detail in order to show that he was a man 
of position and prominence, and that his statements are en- 
titled to weight. Furthermore, for a considerable period of 
time while hospital surgeon. Dr. Eustis lived in the house of 
Colonel Beverly Robinson, opposite to West Point, in which 
Benedict Arnold had his headquarters. These circumstances 
all go to confirm the story as told in the account, which is 
given below : — 

ANECnOTE OF THE SoLDIEKS OF ArNOLD. 

When the Traitor Arnold deserted his post at West Point on 
Hudson's River, lie was rowed in his barge to tlie British Sloop of war, 



2 






"the Vulture," then lying near Tappan Bay. On leaving the shore from 
his quarters, which were on the East side of the river, about two miles 
below the point, the Cockswain of the boat put the bow of the boat up 
the river as usual, for the point. Arnold ordered him to put the boat 
about and go down the river with all possible expedition, adding, that 
he was going on board the " Vulture " on business of the greatest im- 
portance. After about an hour and an half or two hours, the barge 
reached the Vulture. Arnold went on board and ordered the crew 
to come on board. They did so. After some time Arnold came on 
deck from the cabin, and told the crew that he iiad tjuit the rebel service 
and joined tiie standard of his Britannick Majesty ; that he should 
have orders to raise a brigade in that service, and addressing himself 
to the corporal and eight privates, which constituted his barge's crew, 
added, " if ygu will join me, my lads, I will make Serjeants or corporals 
of you all ; and for you James," turning to the corporal, " I will do 
something more." Surprized and indignant the corporal replied, " No 
sir, one coat is enough for me to wear at a time." Two of the bargemen 
who had been British deserters remained with Arnold, the others with 
their cockswain, the corporal, returned to their duty, not in the barge 
they had rowed down, but in an ordinary inferior boat, Arnold having 
the meanness to steal the barge, which he |)robably kept for his 
own use. 

The name of the corporal was James Lurvey or Larvey (it is pre- 
sumed Lurvey.) He belonged to the Massachusetts regiment, com- 
manded by Rufus Putnam, and it is believed came from the county of 
Worcester, either from Brookfield or some neighbouring town. 

The circumstances were related to me by Lurvey, who was well 
known to me, and confirmed by the other bargemen on their return in 
the old boat, who heard James make the reply to Arnold. 

As an instance of virtue on the part of Lurvey, and as a cutting 
reproach on Arnold, I have always had a desire to see the anecdote on 
record. It is possible Lurvey may still be alive, in which case his evi- 
dence may afford more particulars than my recollection at this distance 
of time can supply. One of the barjremen by the name of Hawkes be- 
longed to the same district with Lurvey, but from the state of his 
health at the time it is doubtful whether he is alive. 

According to your request I have stated the principal fact, and am 

with respect. 

Dear Sir, 

your obedient servant. 
Dr. R. Webstek. W. EusTIS. 

Within a very few years the Rolls of tiie Revolutionary 
soldiers preserved among the Massachusetts Archives at the 




/ 



State House have been carefully indexed ; and it is easy now 
to trace the military history of the men whose names are there 
recorded. From this source I have gathered various references 
to Lurvey, from which a skeleton of his array service can be 
put together. In these days of patriotic societies, made up of 
the Sons and the Daughters, etc., such facts are always wel- 
come. It is evident that Dr. Eustis was wrong in his impres- 
sion that the soldier came from Brookfield or any other town 
of that neighborhood, as the records show that he belonged 
in Gloucester. In detailing men to row a boat, it was very 
natural to take a coxswain who came from the seacoast, and 
one who would know how to manage a crew or to pull an 
oar. 

James Lurvey's name first appears on a Muster Roll as 
having enlisted on May 29, 1775, in Captain Rowe's company. 
Colonel Bridge's regiment; and then on the Coat Roll of eight 
months' service. Again, he appears as a coi'poial in a Return 
of Captain Benjamin Gates's company, Colonel Putnam's regi- 
ment, dated at Albany, on February 9, 1778 ; and later, in 
a " Pay Account," as a corporal in Captain Gardner's com- 
pany. Colonel Putnam's regiment, from March 4, 1777, to 
December 31, 1779. The name is found, also, in a " Pay 
Account " for the year 1780, where he is still recorded as a 
corporal. It is found, again, in " A Return of the Men belong- 
ing to the Town of Gloucester Jan- 1781 in the Continental 
Army for 3 Years or During the War," as a sergeant in Cap- 
tain Killam's company. Fifth Massachusetts regiment (Colonel 
Putnam's). 

Our late associate Mr. Babson, in his History of Gloucester 
(p. 596), saj's that Lurvey was a private in Captain Rowe's 
company at the Battle of Bunker Hill. 

Furthermore, there was a John Hawks serving in a Massa- 
chusetts regiment, whose residence, according to one roll, was 
Falmouth (Portland), and, according to another, Casco Bay: 
and, presumably, he was the bargeman alluded to by Dr. 
Eustis as coming from the same district as Lurvey, though 
this statement would be true onlj' in a very general way. 

These several references to James Lurvey show clearly that 



011 800 609 4 ^ 
he came from Gloucester, and not from any town in Worces- 
ter County. In his day and generation he may have been 
an obscure individual, but he was true to his country. Like 
many other patriots of the Revolution, he has long been for- 
gotten, and the act has passed out of mind. The purpose of 
these remarks is to rescue his name from undeserved oblivion, 
and to place it in the list of those whose memory is fondly 
cherished by his countrymen. 




pH8^ 



